OSCARS

ACADEMY AWARDS 2016

Comedian Chris Rock's presence as host of the 88th Academy Awards likely brought in some black viewers, despite calls to boycott the show over a lack of diversity among the nominees in the acting categories.

Comedian Chris Rock's presence as host of the 88th Academy Awards likely brought in some black viewers, despite calls to boycott the show over a lack of diversity among the nominees in the acting categories.

The running theme of the 88th Academy Awards was #OscarsSoWhite, but black viewership of the ABC telecast held up compared with last year. Data from Nielsen showed that 3.22 million African Americans tuned in, just 2% under last year’s total. African American viewers made up 9.4% of the total audience...

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Like most people, German filmmaker Maren Ade isn’t generally in the habit of checking her spam email folder. But one day in early July she happened to take a look and was surprised at what she found there. Sitting in Ade’s junk inbox was an invitation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and...

Filmmaker Clay Tweel first encountered his latest subject, former NFL player Steve Gleason, via a tsunami of footage filmed after the New Orleans Saints player was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2011. At the time, Gleason and his wife, Michel, had just...

Following the New York Film Festival premiere of Ang Lee’s “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” the main topic of discussion focused on “frame rate,” and Lee, sounding tentative and a bit nervous about the finished product, asked the audience for “feedback.” Not exactly the way you want to launch...

Even before production began on “Fences” in April, many awards season pundits already had the film’s stars on their lists of likely Oscar nominees. On Tuesday, we got to see why, when Paramount Pictures put out the first trailer for the movie starring Viola Davis and Denzel Washington, who also...

If the distinctions between film and television seem to be breaking down with creators and audiences alike, one place that still holds to a strict definition between the two is the Oscars. As the official rules and eligibility guide states, the Academy Awards are “to honor outstanding artistic...

Facing an angry outcry among some of its members, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Board of Governors circulated a letter to its members on Monday aimed at clarifying new membership rules announced in January. Under the new rules, which were enacted in the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite...

One of the biggest questions facing the documentary world is how to categorize the emergent form of the docu-series. Are projects like "Making of a Murderer" and "The Jinx" akin to the time-honored television mini-series, just in nonfiction form?Or are they more of a classic‎ documentary, just...

Moving to address its lack of diversity, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named three new governors Tuesday: African American director Reginald Hudlin, Latino writer Gregory Nava and Asian American animator Jennifer Yuh Nelson. The appointments follow through on a promise academy...

Meeting for the first time since Oscar night, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ board of governors will gather Tuesday morning to discuss the organization’s path forward on the topic of diversity. The closed-door meeting comes as the 51-member board must figure out how to enforce...

This time last year, few people would have looked at "Spotlight," the movie that just won this year's Oscar for best picture and predicted, "That is a film the academy is just going to love!" Meanwhile, "The Big Short," the Producers Guild picture winner, wasn't even on the 2015 schedule at this...

This year's Academy Awards telecast on ABC received generally positive reviews from critics for its brisk pace and host Chris Rock's biting commentary, and social-media mentions rose 22%. Even so, the Oscars had 3 million fewer viewers than they had last year. The day after their big night, first-time...

The Vanity Fair Oscar party has long been recognized as the most exclusive Hollywood bash of the year. But until you actually pass through the event's hallowed doors, it's hard to understand what all the fuss is about. And just getting to the door is difficult. First, you and your 13-year-old Prius...

During a comedy bit at the 88th Academy Awards Sunday night, Chris Rock said he trekked to a Compton movie theater to interview black moviegoers about largely white Oscar contenders. The resulting segment got big laughs as Rock asked cinema fans if they had seen, or even heard of, movies like "The...

Despite an Academy Award ceremony focused on addressing issues of diversity in Hollywood, Asian Americans expressed outrage on social media after two jokes that poked at stereotypes. The comments, one by host Chris Rock during a skit and another by comedic actor Sacha Baron Cohen under his Ali...

Lady Gaga may not have won an Oscar on Sunday night, but her appearance at the Academy Awards registered as a clear victory. Nominated for best original song with “Til It Happens to You,” her tune about college sexual assault from “The Hunting Ground,” the pop superstar unexpectedly lost to Sam...

We are left with much to ponder after the 88th-89th Academy Awards on Sunday night, a show so long that it officially qualifies as two telecasts. Among the things we have to chat about a day later: What’s with The Weeknd’s hair, and does it require implants? Is it some sort of flotation device?...

For as much was written speculating about what this year’s Chris Rock-hosted Oscars might look like, it’s doubtful many prognosticators predicted an appearance of Black History Month’s sworn enemy Stacey Dash. Dash, best known for her work in 1995’s “Clueless”, now spends her days as a cultural...

"Spotlight" won the best picture Oscar on Sunday, rewarded for its overall craft and quality, yes, but also for the way it became part of the conversation (and prodded the discussion) about the ongoing investigation into the Catholic clergy's sexual abuse of children and how the church had suppressed...

Where do you find a headliner who can draw a crowd and command an audience’s attention on a night when seemingly every star in the galaxy is in Hollywood for the Academy Awards ceremony? If you’re Elton John, you look no further than your bathroom mirror. The 68-year-old English singer, songwriter...

One of the most urgent questions going into Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony was just how host Chris Rock would handle the gig, and particularly how he would address the ongoing #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Rock, a comedian known for his provocative take on race, tackled the issue head-on, opening...

“Is Hollywood racist?” asked Chris Rock in his opening monologue at the 88th Academy Awards. He quickly answered his own question. “You damn right Hollywood’s racist.” Sunday night's Academy Awards had an activist undertone, capping one of the most controversial Oscar seasons in history. Rock used...

Chris Rock's provocative turn as host of the 88th Academy Awards was lauded for the bold way he took on the lack of diversity in the film industry.But Sunday's buzz-worthy ceremony on ABC — where the drama “Spotlight” was the winner for best picture — still faced the head winds now common to TV...

A Pakistani filmmaker’s second Oscar victory prompted celebration in her home country Monday and renewed the spotlight on so-called honor killings, which claim thousands of women’s lives every year in the South Asian nation.Honor killings are deeply embedded in South Asian culture, where arranged...

When Sylvester Stallone won the Golden Globe last month for playing Rocky Balboa in the "Rocky" reboot "Creed," the ballroom erupted in cheers. The 69-year-old actor received a standing ovation that was long, loud and heartfelt. So why didn't Stallone win the supporting actor Oscar on Sunday? It...

Brie Larson plumbed her dark side portraying a traumatized young mother in the film "Room," spending weeks isolated in her apartment, immersed in accounts of rape and child sex abuse. It resulted in an intense, deeply felt performance — and it won Larson an Oscar for lead actress for her role as...

The 2016 Oscars telecast was a hot mess, but it certainly wasn't boring. An event most often criticized for being self-indulgent and self-congratulatory — so over-long, repetitive and predictable that the host is all but required to joke about its absurdity — this year's Academy Awards was a strange...

20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. led their studio rivals at the Oscars on Sunday, thanks to robust showings from "The Revenant" and "Mad Max: Fury Road." Fox's "The Revenant" took home three of the top prizes at the 88th Academy Awards: lead actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), director (Alejandro G. Iñárritu)...

One veteran musician finally took home an Oscar at Sunday's Academy Awards, while a well-decorated newcomer added another trophy to his crowded mantle. Ennio Morricone, the Italian composer credited with more or less inventing the sound of the spaghetti western, won original score for his music...

The historic Oscars won by director Alejandro G. Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki for "The Revenant" were a testament to the power and virtuosity of Mexican filmmakers and the allure they have for a Hollywood increasingly looking for evocative international voices. On a night of speeches...

After enduring freezing winters, horse-carcass sleeping bags and a gruesome bear attack, Leonardo DiCaprio has finally won his first Oscar. Following 20-plus years of disappointments at the Academy Awards, DiCaprio notched a lead actor win for his performance in "The Revenant." The film, directed...

With the singular comedian Chris Rock acting as host, with both a pivotal election year and the still-trending hashtag #OscarsSoWhite to draw on, the 2016 Oscars promised to deliver some verbal fireworks, and it didn't disappoint.The evening supplied plenty of memorable, thought-provoking and downright...

Bringing an end to an unpredictable and tumultuous Oscar race, the newsroom drama “Spotlight” took home the top prize for best picture at the 88th Academy Awards on Sunday, emerging victorious in what had widely been seen as a three-way race with the brutal frontier epic “The Revenant” and the...

The red carpet at the 88th Academy Awards was defined by glint and glimmer, with all things sparkly and shiny — and we're talking about the clothes here, not the jewelry — being the night's big takeaway trend. Alicia Vikander ("The Danish Girl") was winning on the red carpet before she took the...

The slaughter is at once blurry and succinct, flickering incessantly through the clanging inner-workings of a Nazi death camp, where Jewish slave workers known as Sonderkommandos lead fellow Jews to gas chambers, collecting their wallets, jewels and shoes in a cruel and final degradation. “Son...

Composer Ennio Morricone, 87, has become one of the oldest — if not the oldest — person to win a competitive Academy Award with his Oscar on Sunday for "The Hateful Eight." The academy said it keeps age-related data only for the acting and directing categories and no winners in those races have...

Documentary Short Subject "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who won Pakistan's first Oscar for 2012's "Saving Face," collected her second statuette for documentary short. Her 40-minute...

Pixar's "Inside Out" directed by Pete Docter won the Oscar for animated feature Sunday. The inventive computer-animated film is set inside the mind of an 11-year-old girl, turning her emotions — such as joy, sadness and disgust — into characters. The emotions, voiced by the likes of Amy Poehler...